A group of at least 20 disgruntled former Trump Tower Tampa buyers plans to sue Donald Trump, accusing the New York tycoon of falsifying his role in the $300-million project that went bankrupt last year.

Trump misrepresented himself as a tower investor when he was only lending his name to the project in a licensing deal with Tampa Bay developer SimDag Robel LLC, said Kenneth Turkel, a Tampa attorney hired by some of the condo buyers.

Scores of buyers plunked down 20 percent deposits on units that ranged in price from $700,000 to $6 million. Developers didn't refund half the deposit money, and buyers aim to recoup losses from Trump though the courts.

"Buyers were never told about the confidential licensing agreement," Turkel said. "Would people have bought into the project if the name was SimDag Tower Tampa?"

Announced by Trump in February 2005 during a whirlwind stopover in Tampa, the skyscraper was supposed to be West Florida's highest and its 193 units the most luxurious in the region.

But as the real estate market tanked, developers could never find suitable financing. SimDag filed for bankruptcy in June 2008. A year later, Colonial Bank seized the 1.5-acre riverfront lot at 100 S. Ashley Drive.

Buyers in similar Trump licensing deals have filed lawsuits elsewhere. Seventy people who bought into Trump Ocean Resort, a never-built waterfront development in Baja California, have also dragged Trump to court. Plaintiffs allege the real estate mogul deceived them into laying down deposits on a project he was only lending his name to.